Romanis: Lessons for Ukraine

Author: Yevhen Magda is a historian and Director of the Institute of Global Politics

 The Russian-Ukrainian war has become a challenge not only for the Ukrainian nation. This conflict—the largest one in the 21^st century—was caused by aggression by the Kremlin and is a catalyst of the completion of formation of Ukrainian political nation. And it is our joint task to stress its multi-national character. In order to do that, we need to learn even the most horrible pages of history. 

On the 2nd of August, Europeans commemorate the Romani genocide. On this day in 1944, in Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp, several thousand Romanis were exterminated whom the Nazis imprisoned there in accordance with the principles of their own ‘racial theory’. The freedom-loving Romanis were, in the opinion of Hitlerites, a threat to the racial purity of the Aryan nation. The Einsatzkommandos (special subdivisions committing mass murders) in the occupied territories of Europe exterminated both nomadic encampments and sedentary Romanis; this became part of the Nazi occupation strategy. According to various estimates, 200k to 1.5m of European Romanis fell victim to it. This incredibly harmed the ethnic diversity of Europe. 

In Ukraine, perception of Romanis is still on the level of stereotypes. «Horse thieves», «kidnappers of children»,  «thieves» — all of these are, alas, common terms in Ukrainian society that are the heritage of the Soviet past. The overall impression is that the perception of Romanis is still based on the Gypsy movie cast back in the USSR Brezhnev times. This is hardly weird for a country which practised the policy of forging a ‘single Soviet people—the builders of Communism’—but is rather strange for a country intending to become a member of the European Union. European integration must be governed, first and foremost, on principles and values that will be shared by most of Ukrainian citizens.

Ukraine’s striving to become a member of the European Union calls for not only economic transformations but also for improvement of the situation with protection of human rights. So says the logic of the European Union as the largest economic bloc of modern world. As we are coming back to the common European home from the post-Soviet and post-imperialistic existence, we must not abandon any of our citizens. Hence, Ukraine’s European integration must take place under the motto of unity in diversity, parallel with the creation of a powerful Ukrainian political nation—a process whereby millions of our citizens will find their respective places. This is why the commencement of negotiations about Ukraine’s and Moldova’s accession to the EU must become an impetus for the creation of a qualitatively different ethnic and national strategy of our country.

 "A full-featured integration of Romanis in Ukrainian society is one of the prerequisites of the successful European integration of Ukraine. A similar test has been passed by a number of other Central European countries where Romani minority lives", – says Yevhen Magda. 

We need to realise how harmful the existing stereotypes about any ethnic minority in Ukraine are; and the Romani minority has grounds to become a litmus test of how implementable changes are. The Russian aggression leaves its imprint, so it may be insufficient to just understand how many Romanis live in Ukraine, to calculate how many of them have become temporally displaced persons in the EU, in search for protection from Russian aggression. It would also be apt to tell the story of those Romanis who have joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces to defend Ukraine against the Russian invasion—or those who have become volunteers, the reliable «ants in the home front». Telling the story of Romanis in modern-day Ukrainian society will contribute to our saying farewell to Soviet stereotypes. Full-featured integration of Romanis in Ukrainian society is one of the prerequisites of successful European integration of our country, as a similar test has already been passed by a number of other Central European countries where Romani minority lives.

 Today, quite justifiably, Ukraine is considered to be one of European countries with ethnic and national policy that is not particularly efficient. For a considerable amount,that policy has been shaped according to the «let it be» principle. Ukraine now needs a new strategy with regard to ethnic minority, as there exist noticeable problems in communication of authorities with representatives of Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian ethnic minorities. This inefficiency is also a feature of communication with Romanis who are often blamed for anti-social behaviour and other mortal sins. It is overall easier just to blame someone than it is to build a multi-ethnic political nation which is expected to build a successful Ukraine. The strategy applied with regard to ethnic minorities in Ukraine must be clear and understandable, whereby the rights of ethnic minorities shall be preserved and implemented in practice. This will protect everyone from manipulations from other countries in the future. 

For Ukraine, the war against the Kremlin monster must become a factor of consolidation of our political nation, a final stage of this complicated and responsible process. The aggressor brings ideology and practice of the grand Russian chauvinism into Ukrainian land. This ideology and practice can also be countered through fortification of the multi-national Ukrainian political nation wherein each and every citizen will enjoy not only guaranteed rights but will also be aware of the grounds of feasibility of European integration of our country.